Student Food Rescue

SFR primarily serves its 12+ Community Partners through consistent, weekly, volunteer-led food pickup and delivery runs. The donations we receive are locally sourced from bakeries, large grocers, and restaurants. Our amazing volunteers, who are the heart and soul of this program, then drop off the food to our various community partners, including women’s transitional homes, homeless shelters, children’s programs, and low-income communities.

In addition to food routes, we have a handful of monthly experiences that give our volunteers the opportunity to engage in a variety of food justice initiatives. In the past, these experiences have included preparing meals, organizing produce, interacting with our community partners’ clients, and assisting our community partners with other partner-identified needs.

SFR History

The program started in the Spring of 1988 when a group of BU students decided that they wanted to make a difference in the food-related challenges observed in the community. Over the course of the last three decades, the SFR program has been one of the largest student-run food salvage programs in the country, receiving and distributing over 50,000 pounds in food donations annually. Boston University students gain a mutually beneficial connection to the community through weekly food runs, direct service experiences, and reflection.

How to Get Involved

Student Food Rescue is a great opportunity for Boston University students looking to serve a few hours a week with friends or people they may otherwise never met and explore the Greater Boston Area’s diverse communities and make a difference. Volunteers sign up for a weekly, 2-hour shift where they will work with 2-3 other students to pick up food from one of our food donors in the Boston area, and deliver the food to one of our Community Partners in need.

Will you be in Boston this summer? We are currently recruiting van drivers and volunteers for our Fall 2024 food runs. Please complete this interest form if you’d like to get involved with SFR this fall, and we will follow up with more information. 

Program Managers

For more information, contact Program Managers Eleanor Hoffpauir and Ocean Bruinius at sfr@bu.edu.